President Lula cancels trip to Russia after domestic accident and will attend BRICS Summit via videoconference

Brasil de Fato

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Workers’ Party) suffered a domestic accident and canceled his trip to Russia scheduled for this Sunday (20). According to the Planalto Palace, the cancellation follows medical advice due to a temporary impediment to long-term air travel.  

A medical bulletin from the Sírio Libanês Hospital in Brasília stated that Lula was admitted with a cut on the back of his head, described as a “blunt injury in the occipital region.” The document also notes that the president remains under the supervision of a medical team. 

Lula was set to attend the 16th BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia, this week, from October 22 to 24. Instead, the government announced that he would participate in the event via videoconference.  

Following the trip’s cancellation, the Kremlin ruled out a possible link to Putin’s refusal to attend the G20 summit in Brazil in November. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian news agency Tass that “such a thought could not even cross our minds”. 

First Summit with new members  

This will be the first BRICS summit with the participation of Egypt, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Ethiopia, countries that joined the bloc this year. At the summit in Kazan, the BRICS member countries will issue a joint declaration titled “Strengthening Multilateralism for Fair and Secure Global Development,” which is the result of sectoral negotiations among the member states. The Middle East crisis is also expected to be on the agenda.  

According to Itamaraty, creating the category of “partner” countries will be the main topic of debate among the heads of state. “At the Johannesburg Summit in 2023, new full members were incorporated, and on that occasion, the Sherpas channel was commissioned to draw up the category of partners. That’s what we’re working on this semester: defining the criteria for this category. There’s an expectation that once this category is approved, an announcement can be made about the countries that would be invited to join,” explained Ambassador Eduardo Paes Saboia, Itamaraty’s Secretary for Asia and the Pacific, at a press conference on October 14.